Djamel Beghal

Djamel Beghal (1965-) was an Algerian al-Qaeda member and the mentor of Cherif Kouachi, Said Kouachi, and Amedy Coulibaly while they were in prison with him; he inspired them to carry out their 2015 attacks in France.

Biography
Djamel Beghal was born in 1965 in Bourj Bou Arredj, Algeria, and in 1990 he married a French woman while working as a youth worker in Corbeil-Essonnes, France, and in 1997 the family moved to Leicester in the United Kingdom. However, his peaceful family life was interrupted by his Islamist views, and he headed to Afghanistan to train in al-Qaeda training camps. Beghal joined Takfir wal-Hijra and wanted to be a suicide bomber, and he helped in planning the September 2001 bombing of the United States embassy in Paris, although the plot failed. Beghal was arrested on 28 July 2001 at Dubai International Airport while traveling with a fake French passport, and Emirati police tortured him with complicity from the the British and French governments. In March 2005, he was sentenced to ten years in prison in France, and he met petty criminals Cherif Kouachi, Said Kouachi, and Amedy Coulibaly in prison, radicalizing them and preparing them for their 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris.